Skip to content

Poetry and the transpersonal

Stuart Whomsley

Transpersonal Psychology Review 2020 DOI: 10.53841/bpstran.2020.22.1.63 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed
Key points Argues that poetry reading can lead to transpersonal states, with effects that go beyond the meaning of the words

Abstract

This paper considers poetry, poets and the transpersonal. It first considers the creation of poetry in relation to the transpersonal with the focus on the poet, in particular the role of altered states of consciousness for the poet in the act of creation; the focus then shifts to the reader of poetry to consider if poetry reading can lead to transpersonal states, finding at least that poetry has effects that go beyond the meaning of the words.